Madison County Husband and Wife Sentenced in Mortgage/Bankruptcy Fraud Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office
December 18, 2009

Southern District of Mississippi(601) 965-4480

JACKSON, MS—Robert E. Power, Jr. was sentenced on December 17 to serve eight years and
nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Donald R. Burkhalter, FBI
Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen, U.S. Trustee R. Michael Bolen, Secretary of State Delbert
Hosemann, and Madison/Rankin County District Attorney Michael Guest announced today. Power’s
wife, Deaundrea M. Power, was sentenced to serve 12 months and one day in prison, followed by
one year of supervised release. The Powers were also ordered to pay $318,668,23 in victim restitution.

The Powers pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, as well as bankruptcy fraud,
on August 21, 2009. Because Robert Power was on supervised release from a prior tax fraud conviction
when he committed the crimes, Judge William Barbour sentenced Robert Power to an additional 10
months in prison to run consecutively with the previous sentence handed down by Judge Tom S. Lee.

Robert and Deaundrea Power, doing business as Yorkshire Financial Services, targeted
homeowners at risk of foreclosure. The defendants represented that if the homeowners transferred their
property to Yorkshire, and made monthly payments, Yorkshire would in turn renegotiate or refinance
mortgages so the homeowners could remain in their homes. The Powers then created bogus business
entities through the Secretary of States Office, assigned quit claim deeds to targeted properties as the sole
asset of the shell company, and subsequently placed those entities in bankruptcy, without the knowledge
or consent of the initial homeowner/victim. At least ten homeowners lost their homes in the scheme,
while Robert and Deaundrea Power received financial benefit from the fraudulent activity.

The office of the U.S. Trustee referred this matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
The investigation was a joint effort led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the
Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office, the Office of the U.S. Trustee, and the Madison/Rankin County
District Attorney’s Office.

District Attorney Michael Guest applauded the sentence, saying, “A criminal scheme to steal
money from poor people who thought they were getting current on their mortgage payments is especially
offensive. The victims in this cases included people whose homes were being foreclosed, the lending
institutions and other creditors to whom money was owed, and included the United States Bankruptcy
Court itself. My office will continue working with the United States Attorney and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation in aggressively prosecuting financial crimes in Madison and Rankin County.”

U.S. Attorney Burkhalter said, “We will continue to vigorously pursue fraud in the Bankruptcy
Court and to seek lengthy jail sentences, just as was imposed in this case.”